Johan Thomas Lundbye: Zealand Landscape. Open Country...

Like other artists of his generation, Lundbye departed from the capital to depict Denmark’s landscapes. Yet even back then, there was very little untouched countryside left in Denmark. Almost all the open land had been tilled for fields.

In lieu of “real” nature the artist opted to paint a relatively wild commons used as a pasture as this would create the impression of unspoilt landscape. He found the motif near his parents’ home in North Zealand. But he did not depict a particular location. Rather, he pieced together his scene from parts of different areas in the region. He wished to accentuate the general and typical aspects of landscapes, not a specific site. He himself simply called the painting “Zealand Landscape”.